A notice has been issued for the first time by the health department to the officials of Tatanagar railway who have been asked to submit their vector control action plan within 24-hours or face legal action.
The health department notice has been issued following the directive of East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla who had noticed perennial waterlogging on the stretch connecting Jugsalai with Tatanagar station, The Telegraph reported. The Singhbhum DC has found the area near the railway station as the potential breeding ground for diseases spreading mosquitoes.
Dr A K Lal, district malaria officer and district national vector-borne diseases control programme officer, directed chief health inspector of Tatanagar railway station on Wednesday, October 23, to submit an action plan within 24 hours to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in the area. It has also warned of legal action against railway authorities if they fail to do so.
“If the report is unsatisfactory, going by the directive of DC Shukla, we will be forced to file a complaint against railway authorities with the police for causing health risk to people,” the report quoted East Singhbhum civil surgeon Dr Maheshwar Prasad, as saying.
So far this year, 258 people in the district have tested positive for dengue. There has been no death reported so far in 2019.
In 2018, 69 people were diagnosed for dengue and two deaths were reported. The numbers were alarming in 2017, where 556 cases of dengue were reported in Jamshedpur and its outskirts. The year saw the mosquito-borne disease claim four lives.
The report mentioned Dr Lal saying that the threat of dengue, spread by bite of female mosquito - Aedes aegypti - due to waterlogging in the area near the station was a matter of grave concern.
He added that the railway officials have been asked to inform within 24 hours, a detailed action plan relating to thermal fogging and schedule for spraying of larvicides. The officials have been asked to furnish pictorial documentation of the areas covered so far. He further said that the railway officials have been asked to list out the measures being taken to flush out accumulated water in the residential area of the railway colony and on the stretch of the road near Tatanagar railway station.
The railway action plan also should include exact information on collection of garbage and disposal mechanism in railway areas as well as the railway colony, the official was reported as saying by the daily.
Meanwhile, railway official Srimanta Datta claimed that activities such as fogging, larvicide and spraying of bleaching powder at Railway colony are being carried out regularly. He further claimed that waterlogging on the road near the station was because of engineering fault.
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